Xylophone



P 1940. R. H. KONIKOFF 2,215,358

XYLOPHONE Filed Sept. 21, 1959 6 f ROBERTHKZN/KOFF 5 3 INVENTOR.

1 uH I44 MW 7 #1 BY mallow ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 17, 1940 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFECE Gotham Pressed Steel Corporation,

Bronx,

Application September 21, 1939, Serial No. 295,894

Claims.

My invention relates to xylophones and has particular reference to xylophones made of metal. My invention has for its object to provide a Xylophone which will be cheap to manufacture 5 and effective in its operation. I have found that a very effective and inexpensive construction is obtained by providing U-shaped supporting rails for sounding bars, the rails being stamped out of the sheet metal with stamped out tongues for loosely retaining the bars, the tongues fitting in corresponding holes in the bars. Cords are interposed between the rails and the bars, the latter lying freely on the cords and being retained in position by the tongues. My arrangement has an advantage in that the bars are not attached firmly to any parts of the device so that their sound is not impared as is the case when they are fastened to the cords or to the rails; also that the bars cannot be displaced when the device is being handled.

As a modification, I employ tubular bars also mounted for'resting freely on the cords and retained by tongues fitting in corresponding holes in the bars, additional members being provided extending-over the tops of the bars for preventing their removal from the tongues.

My invention is more fully described in the accompanying specification and drawing, in Which- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my Xylophone;

Fig. 2 is a fractional end view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a fractional top view of the same;

Fig. 4 is a fractional view of the end portion of one rail before the same is bent into the final shape;

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of a modified Xylophone; and

Fig. 6 is a fractional sectional view of the end portion of the Xylophone shown in Fig. 5.

My xylophoneconsists of a base I having holes at the sides for extensions or prongs 2 on the edges of U-shaped rails 3 made of sheet metal and having preferably fiat upper sides. The prongs are bent out at the ends over the base, ,thereby clinching the rails to the base. Lugs 4 are provided at the ends of the rails, punched out of the material of the rails and bent upward and around the ends of cords 5, which may be made of any suitable pliable and more or less elastic material, such as textile fibers, rubber, etc. Tongues 6 are also punched out of the material of the rails at their upper sides and raised upward, passing through holes 1 in sounding bars 8. The latter may be preferably made of steel and out to graduated sizes in order to obtain the necessary range of sounds. The upper ends of the tongues are bent outward, the tongues for every bar being bent in the opposite directions in order to prevent the bar from falling off when the device is turned over. Sufficient clearances are provided in the holes 1 around the tongues 6, the latter being so bent as not to bear tightly against the sounding bars. The latter are therefore allowed a certain freedom of motion in all directions which is necessary for clearness of the sound produced when the bars are struck with a mallet.

My construction has an advantage in that it lends itself to manufacturing in large quantities at a very low cost. I

A modified Xylophone is shown in Figs. 5 and 6, constructed similarly to the device shown in Fig. 1, except that the sounding bars 8 are of a tubular form. They rest on the cords 5, being retained by tongues 6 entering into corresponding holes in the walls of the tubular bars. The tongues may not be bent in this case, the tubular member being retained in position by fiat bars 9 placed over the tubular sounding bars 8 with a small clearance so as to prevent an actual contact between the tubular bars and the retaining bars 9.

The ends of the bars 9 rest on the base I and are attached by nails or screws Ill. The tubular bars have an advantage of a richer and more 30 pleasant sound when struck by a wooden mallet.

It is understood that my Xylophone may be further modified without departing from the spirit of this invention, as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A Xylophone comprising a base, two rails mounted on the base in spaced retation to each other and made of sheet metal, the upper sides of the rails having lugs punched out of the ma- 40 terial of the rails, cords extending over the upper sides of the rails, the lugs being bent over the cords thereby clamping them against the rails, tongues punched out of the material of the rails at their upper sides at spaced intervals, sounding members supported on the cords and having holes at the ends loosely fitting over the tongues, and means to retain the bars on the cords and on the tongues.

2. A Xylophone comprising a base, two rails mounted on the base in spaced relation to each other and made of sheet metal, the upper sides of the rails having lugs punched out of the material of the rails, cords extending over the upper sides of the rails, the lugs being bent over the cords thereby clamping them against the rails, tongues punched out of the material of the rails at their upper sides at spaced intervals, sounding bars supported on the cords and having holes at the ends loosely fitting over the tongues, the tongues being bent for loosely retaining the bars on the cords.

3. A Xylophone comprising a base, two rails mounted on the base in spaced relation to each other and made of sheet metal, the upper sides of the rails having lugs punched out of the material of the rails, cords extending over the upper sides of the rails, the lugs being bent over the cords thereby clamping them against the rails, tongues punched out of the material of the rails at their upper sides at spaced intervals, sounding bars supported on the cords and having holes at the ends loosely fitting over the tongues, the tongues being bent in the opposite directions at the ends of every bar for loosely retaining the bars on the cords.

4. A Xylophone comprising a base, two rails mounted on the base in spaced relation to each other and made of sheet metal, the upper sides of the rails having lugs punched out of the material of the rails, cords extending over the upper sides of the rails, the lugs being bent over the cords thereby clamping them against the rails, tongues punched out of the material of the rails at their upper sides at spaced intervals, sounding bars supported on the cords and having holes at the ends loosely fitting over the tongues, and means to prevent the removal of the bars from the tongues.

5. A Xylophone comprising a base, two U-shaped rails made of sheet metal supported on the base in spaced relation to each other, the edges of the rails having prongs fitting in corresponding holes in the base for retaining the rails thereon, cords resting on the upper sides of the rails, means to hold the cords on the rails, sounding bars transversely resting on the cords, and means to loosely retain the bars on the cords.

6. A Xylophone comprising a base, two U-shaped rails made of sheet metal supported on the base in spaced relation to each other, the edges of the rails having prongs fitting in corresponding holes in the base for retaining the rails thereon, cords resting on the upper sides of the rails, means to hold the cords on the rails, tongues punched out of the material of th rails at spaced intervals and bent upward, sounding bars having holes loosely registering with the tongues, the bars loosely resting on the cords, and means to prevent the removal of the bars from the tongues.

'7. A Xylophone comprising a base, two U-shaped rails made of sheet metal supported on the base in spaced relation to each other, the edges of the rails having prongs fitting in corresponding holes in the base for retaining the rails thereon, cords resting on the upper sides of the rails, means to hold the cords on the rails, tongues punched out of the material of the rails at spaced intervals and bent upward, tubular sounding bars transversely resting on the cords and having holes in the under side loosely registering with the tongues, the tongues extending into the tubular bars, and means to retain the bars on the cords and on the tongues.

8. A Xylophone comprising a base, two U-shaped rails made of sheet metal supported on the base in spaced relation to each other, the edges of the rails having prongs fitting in corresponding holes in the base for retaining the rails thereon, cords resting on the upper sides of the rails, means to hold the cords on the rails, tongues punched out of the material of the rails at spaced intervals and bent upward, tubular sounding bars transversely resting on the cords and having holes in the under side loosely registering with the tongues, the tongues extending into the tubular bars, and a retaining member attached to the base and extending over the bars for preventing the removal of the bars from the tongues.

9. A Xylophone comprising a base, two U-shaped rails made of sheet metal supported on the base in spaced relation to each other, the edges of the rails having prongs fitting in corresponding holes in the base for retaining the rails thereon, cords resting on the upper sides of the rails, means to hold the cords on the rails, tongues punched out of the material of the rails at spaced intervals and bent upward, tubular sounding bars transversely resting on the cords and having holes in the under side loosely registering with the tongues, the tongues extending into the tubular bars, and a retaining member attached to the base and extending over the bars, the retaining member having slots over the bars with small clearances therefrom.

10. A Xylophone comprising a base, two U-shaped rails made of sheet metal supported on the base in spaced relation to each other, the edges of the rails having prongs fitting in corresponding holes in the base for retaining the rails thereon, cords resting on the upper sides of the rails, means to hold the cords on the rails, tongues punched out of the material of the rails at spaced intervals and bent upward, tubular sounding bars transversely resting on the cords and having holes in the under side loosely registering with the tongues, the tongues extending into the tubular bars, and flat members mounted edgewise on the base over the rails, the members having slots registering with the bars so as to limit the movements of the bars on the tongues and to prevent the removal of the bars from the cords.

ROBERT H. KON'IKOFF. 

